X Zhu-Nowell (who uses pronouns they/them) is the kind of new-generation curator who makes one feel there’s a future for the visual arts beyond the poverty of the museums and the decadence of the marketplace. Relatively unknown when they were announced as the new artistic director of Shanghai’s historic Rockbund Art Museum in 2023 at the age of 34, they have rapidly made their mark.

Statuesque, fashionable and formidably articulate, they have all the ingredients for success in an image-conscious art world. The most important of all may be intellectual openness.